Vapor compression refrigeration systems have been well known for many years. They involve the compression of vapors followed by cooling of those vapors to cause the vapors to liquefy. The refrigerant liquid is then evaporated by passing it through coils which absorb heat from the atmosphere surrounding the coils and thus produce refrigeration at that point. The evaporated liquid becomes the vapor inlet to the compressor to complete the cycle of the refrigerant. There have been attempts in the past to produce more efficient systems by conserving the heat in the compressed vapors and by saturating the vapors in the inlet to the compressor. These attempts have been partially successful but have not utilized the energy of the system as completely as possible.
The compressor of the system has normally been one which requires lubricating oil to function properly, and a portion of that lubricating oil inevitably finds its way through less than perfect sealing devices into the refrigerant. Although the presence of some oil in the system is not considered to be detrimental it can be understood that in such a system oil accumulates and eventually must be removed.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system wherein oil is continuously separated from the refrigerant in a process involving a highly efficient heat exchange operation. It is another object of this invention to provide efficient heat exchange by direct contact between the refrigerant liquid and hot refrigerant gases. It is still another object of this invention to provide an apparatus for accomplishing the oil separation and the heat exchange. Still other objects will appear from the more detail description of this invention which follows.